While Apple Bloom works on her potions with Zecora, Twilight Sparkle drops by. The perfect afternoon! The potion dream team, and Zecora even starts telling stories. But with her, a story is never just a story.

Thanks to Present Perfect for pre-reading.

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The speaking of rhymes. Zecora has never spoken without rhyme, but... what happens when she can't rhyme?

Zecora has plans made for this wintertime~
Love can find zebras who just speak in rhyme~
A Hearth's Warming tale is here to be had~
As told by Zecora (if I don't go mad)

I hope to read this you give your time, for this story is almost entirely in rhyme.
I live in the forest of Everfree, there is nothing that is new to me.
But one day, I did something I should not, something that affected me quite a lot.
In and out the effects faded, it's my intelligence that the plant hated.
This is the story of how my clumsy action made things not to my satisfaction.

YouTube readings:
TheCaptainSand: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrZJDkk1Dss
The Living Library: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCNPgaEhlXM

Zecora is coming to market today
So Applejack tells Apple Bloom, stay away!
When the filly tries anyway, she's quite quickly caught
And AJ sends her right back home at a trot.

Though I have the actual plot line derailed,
We'll push right on through with an alternate tale
Of how Applejack learns about stripes, fur, and skin--
And how little they're worth next to what lies within.

So sit yourself down please, and read to the end
About how an earth pony got her zebra friend.
It's not all in rhyme, though; don't give in to gloom
But after this dear God I am not putting two zebra characters in a room together because GOOD LORD SO MUCH RHYMING; WHAT WAS I THINKING AAAAAHHHH! Er, I mean...
But new personal rule: JUST ONE ZEBRA PER ROOM.

A/N: Special thanks to Rated-R PonyStar for providing me with much-needed editing / pre-reading / input.

So yes as you may have guessed this is a rewrite of the season 1 episode Bridle Gossip in which I take the starting point and go wandering off towards the same general destination by an entirely different route.

Art for this is from Alfa995, the guy who runs the Ask Nightmare Moon HQ Tumblr.

I initially got the idea from this picture by the artist Elosande

On a dark day, one may wonder: just what horrors lie beyond the veil of the heavens? What ghastly demons exist that could only spawn in a pony's dreams? What terror!? What blight in the face of all that is good!? What- wait, it's the Mane Six?

What sort of twisted reality contains a lycan Applejack, a vampiric Fluttershy, a ghostly Rarity, and a lich queen Twilight Sparkle, you may ask? Why, it's just the Nightmare Realm, existing one and a half dimensions below and above the normal Equestria, and they are sick and tired of Nightmare Night not living up to its name in the 'real' world.

However, are these nightmares truly nightmares, or do they just like a good scare? Why, it depends on who you're talking to! So sit tight, give way to fright, for coming soon is Nightmare Night!

Long ago, before the fall of Princess Luna, before the rule of Discord, there existed another race of pony; The lamia, or snake ponies, feared by all of pony kind as mighty hunters and predators. When the Two Sisters rose to power, no longer able to stand by and watch as the lamia preyed on their subjects, they decided to put an end to the lamia’s reign of terror. Leading their army straight into the capital of the lamia they slew their leader, along with any lamia they encountered along the way.

Using a shapeshifting ability gifted to them by an ancient relic, the scattered remnants of the lamia managed to stay hidden for over a millennium. In the rare case that one of their kin was discovered, they were hunted down and persecuted without so much as a trial. Adapting to the lifestyle of the ponies, the lamia live in constant fear of one day having their true identity discovered.

Tired of living in constant fear, of hiding from her neighbors, and not caring about the consequences of being caught, one lamia decides to leave home and move to a friendly little town in the center of Equestria. Little does she know that something as small as moving to another town could set off a chain of events that will change relations between the lamia and the ponies forever...

The prologue contains some dark themes, as well as a bit of gore, however, that is the only chapter that contains them.

Cover art provided by artist and co-writer The Spirits Demise.

Full size cover can be found here.

Spirit and I have opened up a Discord server for this story. If anyone is interested in hopping in to get updates on the story, discuss what you did or didn't like about a particular scene, or just to chat in general, feel free to follow the link!

Teenage Derpy Hooves has gotten pregnant, and she doesn’t know what to do. How will her coltfriend react? What will her friends and family say? Can she be a good mom? She wants to be a good mom, but she doesn’t have a job and she can’t even see straight!
She’s heard that a wise mare lives in the Everfree Forest. Better yet, a wise mare that nopony talks to. She sets off into the winter woods seeking her. But can she even make it there alive?

Rated T for discussion of unplanned pregnancy.

Jinglemas 2019 story for Freglz.

Edited by Scoots.

This story is a sequel to Savage

The rumors were many. Some reasonable, others unbelievable. But it was not until some unlucky souls stumbled upon it that they were able to find out their veracity. These are some of the recorded instances when the Everfree creature came in contact with the neighboring populace.

These are the other encounter ideas that I had while developing Savage, not its sequel. Any continuation of it will be in the original story.

Art is not mine but by aeflus, go check this guy out! He has some pretty neat art. Brought to you with the help of these fine persons: Mountain Bell,FreedomFiend, ScrambledCrackers and Alicorn Priest

One night in the Everfree forest, a timid pegasus is cornered by one of the most feared creatures known to exist, a Timberwolf. But in the forest lies a dark power greater than Fluttershy could ever imagine. Powerful enough to even give a Timberwolf reason to fear.